Jack O'Malley Interview w/ Dave Richey
Some streams produce nice brookies like this.
One thing is found on most Blue Ribbon trout waters. Certain stretches have been set aside for fly fishing only, and in many cases, this is a put-and-take fishery. Trout from such areas may not be kept. Anglers can float or wade these rivers.
AuSable riverboats are long, narrow craft, and were first used on the AuSable River but are now commonly used on the upper Manistee River, and the South Branch of the AuSable River. I’ve seen some on the Betsie and larger streams such as the Muskegon, St. Joseph and others.
Key Blue Ribbon waters include the upper AuSable, upper Manistee and the Pere Marquette rivers. These streams have attained legendary status because of clean and clear waters, fine trout numbers and a popularity dating back to the mid-1860s.The AuSable and Manistee rivers are both located near Grayling. The Pere Marquette River, near Baldwin, is another great river that attract world-wide attention.
Michigan is filled with prime trout streams. Other fine trout rivers include the Betsie, Black, Boardman, Boyne, Clam, East Branch AuGres, Grand, Huron, Jordan, Little Manistee, Ocqueoc, Pere Marquette, Pigeon, Platte, Rifle, Sable, Sturgeon, St. Joseph, White and others are found in the LowerPeninsula. Other streams such as Bear Creek, Crockery Creek and Dowagiac Creek provide fishing in smaller, more intimate waters. Other good bets include Buck Creek and the nearby Rogue River. Some of these can only be found with good county maps, so if you come to fish, be prepared.
More adventuresome anglers can tackle Upper Peninsula trout waters. Some areas may require some work to reach but brook trout action can be great. Solid choices include the Big Two Hearted River made famous by Ernest Hemingway in a story by the same name. Researchers have since learned that he didn’t fish the Two Hearted when he wrote that story but instead used its more romantic name in place of the Fox River, near Seney, which is where he did fish.
This angler caught this big brown trout near Escanaba.
The vast Upper Peninsula is filled with great trout streams. There are trout in the Anna, Bark, Black, Carp, Chocolay, Cooks Run, Driggs, Escanaba, Fence, Firesteel, Ford, Fox, Huron, Iron, Laughing Whitefish (made famous by Robert Traver), Manistique, Misery, Mosquito, Middle Branch Ontonagon, Net, Otter, Paint, Pendills, Presque Isle, Rapid, Salmon Trout, Slate, Sturgeon and Whitefish rivers, to name just a handful. Most flowing waters holds trout.
One thing any fisherman will need is a good set of county maps, and if you are getting up in years like me, a magnifying glass and a GPS can come in handy when it comes time to make your way down a half-grown two-track in search of your newest and best trout hotspot.
Michigan grows some big trout, and they are here, waiting for visiting anglers to make their own fishing stories come true. And some of those back-of-beyond hotspots may lie just around the next corner and back behind that small cedar swamp.
You won’t know until you try it.
